Usually, when we watch a movie we are introduced to a hero or heroic group to root for. We want the “good guy” to win and the “bad guy” to lose. We need to see Batman defeat the Joker or 007 to defeat the agents of SPECTRE.
Occasionally, though, the filmmaker sneaks one by us and we find ourselves rooting for the anti-hero. The show Breaking Bad did an outstanding job of getting us to root for Walter White who morphed from being an ordinary hard-working science teacher husband and dad to Heisenberg, the drug kingpin of the southwest who poisoned people with his methamphetamine creation.
I recently saw someone post on Reddit that he realized later in life that the movie Top Gun had us rooting for Maverick instead of Ice Man when clearly Ice Man was the far better pilot and person. “Iceman was the only pilot that: actually obeyed the rules, was a skilled flier, never killed anybody in the entire movie and correctly identified all of Maverick’s faults.” Yet we were all rooting for Maverick.
To that, I will simply add that I can’t imagine why anyone would ever root for the evil New York Yankees, Dallas Cowboys, or Alabama Crimson Tide. (I’ll stop before I make some more lifelong enemies).
The spirit of this age is constantly working to pull people away from finding joy in truth. The Bible contains an epic story about our hero, a loving God who creates a place where everything is good and populates it with people in his divine image to care for the earth, who are opposed by those he created. But God loves this creation so much that he will stop at nothing to find ways to rescue and restore that which is lost and broken and corrupt.
We are currently living amidst the ongoing battle against that which is true and right. People are daily undermining what is good and just and loving and claiming that that which is evil and corrupt is good, and that which is good and holy is evil.
For Paul, true love does not root for the villain or the anti-hero. True love does not rejoice that evil is victorious. True love finds its joy in the truth that is consistent with God and God’s love.
Jesus predicted that before the end of this age, there would be a decrease in love. In Matthew 24:12 Jesus says: “And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.” When people reject what is true and right, when people reject the ways that God lays before us to keep a rightly ordered society, it will result in a loss of love. Lovelessness is the natural outgrowth of lawlessness.
Jesus said “I am the way, the truth and the life.” (John 14:6). If you want to have true life, you have to follow the path of Jesus, the path of truth. Paul says essentially, you can’t find love if you reject God’s truth. You can’t truly love God and love people if you don’t love God’s truth.
Today, ask yourself, “Are there things in my life that I know are the opposite of God’s truth?” If you answer “yes”, you must be willing to reorient your life to pursue God’s truth and rejoice in God’s truth to practice true love.
Pastor Jeff Fletcher
Reflection Questions
Why do you think increased lawlessness results in failure to love the truth?
Why is society becoming more enamored with anti-heroes who are opposed to truth?
Happy hump day! We’re here in the middle of the work/school week. Are you tired of hearing about love yet? Like that TV advertising guy used to say: “But wait! There’s more.”
Sometimes, the best way to learn about what something is is to consider its opposite.
In verse 5 Paul gives three more examples of what love is NOT.:[Love] does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;
For the past almost 40 years, I have lived with the most beautiful, amazing, wonderful woman. This woman has patiently served alongside me as a pastor’s wife in places far from her family and friends. She even let me drag her halfway across the world to England to start a church with a toddler in tow and she was “great with child” as in, about to pop. She has been a great wife to me and a mom to our 11 children.
I love her more than anything on the planet and her name is Karen. Sadly, the name Karen has, in recent years come to be associated with a certain kind of middle-aged woman who is, shall we say a bit entitled, difficult to please, and hard to get along with. The woman who “asks to speak to the manager” is referred to as a “Karen”. I like to tell people “My wife is named Karen but she is not a Karen.”
Why do “Karens” cause endless eye rolls? Because they are very insistent on getting their way, they tend to be easily irritated by normal human flaws and frustrating situations, and they carry resentment towards those who upset them, they are not quick to forgive and give people a second chance.
If the Apostle Paul was writing to today’s Christians he could simply say “Don’t be a Karen” and would easily get his point across. Instead, Paul might say be an Annabelle, which means “loving” or for a male be an Amadeus, which means “love of God.” (Although for many Annabelle was ruined by the horror movie franchise bearing that name. For older people like me the name Amadeus was ruined by the movie about Mozart- a talented musician and horrible person).
Instead of being a Karen who insists on having her way, be an Annabelle who, as Paul says in Philippians 2:3 learns to “value others above yourselves.” Instead of being a Karen who is irritable or easily angered be an Amadeus who is “slow to speak and slow to anger.” (James 1:19). Instead of being a Karen who is resentful, be a person who practices forgiving “70 times 7” as Jesus taught. (Matthew 18:22).
By now you might be wondering, does Paul want me to become like, a whole different person by doing all these practical, loving things? Paul wants us to allow the one perfectly loving person, Jesus, to radically take over our lives. To be so full of God’s spirit and love that “to live is Christ.”
Pastor Jeff Fletcher
Reflection Questions
Can you think of a time when you were around a “Karen”? How did that make you feel?
Can you think of a time when you acted like a “Karen”? How do you think it impacted others?
What are concrete ways that you can show love by valuing others above yourself?
Yesterday we saw that Paul is not interested in talking about love as an abstract concept. Abstract love is worthless. True love is only proven to be of value by concrete actions. In today’s reading, 1 Corinthians 13:4 Paul starts giving concrete examples.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude.
We could pick out any one of those examples and do a deep dive into what patience looks like versus impatience or what kindness looks like versus cruelty. But I think we could place them under one major subheading. If love is the main theme of this chapter, the subheading over these 6 things is humility. Humble people will tend to be more patient. Think about it. If I think I’m better or more important than the other person, I’m going to demand that my needs take priority and so I’m going to be impatient with the server in a restaurant, or the cashier at checkout, or the secretary at the doctor’s office. Impatient people tend to think that their time is more valuable than anyone else’s so their needs should be met now. And of course, if they are impatiently placing demands on other people they are not likely to be expressing them with kindness. Patience and kindness are concrete examples of love in the form of humility.
The other four examples Paul gives, envy, boasting, arrogance, and rudeness are all the antithesis of humility. They are all driven by pride. “Why should my coworker get the promotion, she doesn’t deserve it. I’m a far better employee than she is and I have several examples I’d like to give you about why I’m much better than she is.”
I read a story earlier this week about a famous basketball player. The NBA gives out individual accolades to players and they announced the top three finalists for defensive player of the year. The reporter asked this player how he felt about not being one of the finalists for that award. He proceeded to rant about how “The NBA just doesn’t like me. I deserve that award more than any of them, I’m the best defensive player in the league.” When I read his response I felt disgusted about his arrogance put on such vulgar display with his rude and demeaning words about literally everyone in the league. But this is how things are in the world. We’ve come to reward boastful, rude, and arrogant people.
Narcissism is no longer considered a character flaw but makes one a popular candidate seeking high political office. Have you seen how rude certain candidates are as they call others rude names like children on a playground? Humility is seen by many in the world’s eyes as weakness. But not in God’s eyes. James 4:6 says “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
Jesus taught the importance of humility so clearly when he said “Blessed are the meek (humble) for they shall inherit the earth.” Matthew 5:5
He told a very vivid story comparing and contrasting a proud person and a humble person in Luke 18:9-14: He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
The world rewards the proud and arrogant boasters who brag about how great they are. True love is evidenced by the humble who don’t think too much of themselves but rather show patience and kindness to others. As the character Forrest Gump said: “I’m not a smart man, but I know what love is.”
Pastor Jeff Fletcher
Reflection Questions
Can you think of someone who you would describe as humble? What behaviors make you think of them as humble?
Why does our culture seem to reward arrogance in places like sports or politics?
CS Lewis said that “Humility is not thinking less of yourself but of thinking of yourself less.” How can thinking of yourself less help you to love others more?
For the rest of this week, we are going to be looking each day at small sections of one chapter in the Bible- 1 Corinthians 13. When I was a kid I was taught that 1 Corinthians 15 is the Resurrection chapter, Hebrews 11 is the Hope chapter, and 1 Corinthians 13 is the Love chapter. If you’ve ever been to a wedding ceremony there is a good chance that you’ve heard all or at least a portion of this read as part of the ceremony. Today we will look at verses 1-3:
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
This is such a timely reading for me to consider. For the past 3 years, I’ve been working toward receiving my Doctorate of Ministry from Vanderbilt Divinity School in Nashville. It’s been a lot of hard work. For my project I read hundreds of articles and books, conducted interviews, presented ideas to colleagues, tested ideas on various groups, and wrote, edited, re-wrote, and re-edited until I had a project to present to my committee. Then after my committee read it, we met and I had to defend my project thesis orally. Finally, on April 9 I passed. On May 10 I’ll graduate and receive my official title D.Min, Doctor of Ministry in Integrative Mental Health Chaplaincy. The afternoon I passed my wife Karen said “Hello, Dr. Fletcher.” I said, “That’s the only time you’re ever going to call me that, right?” She said, “Absolutely, I hope you enjoyed it.”
So, I’ve been feeling relieved, accomplished, grateful, and good about having achieved this milestone in my academic and professional career.
But God had a lot more to teach me. And Brother Paul put his finger on it. In 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 Paul is saying a lifetime of accomplishments, being a gifted speaker, full of knowledge, or being spiritually gifted with miraculous powers, in the absence of concrete acts of love, is just a bunch of noise. You can get all the degrees and accolades and knowledge, but if you don’t put love into practice, it’s a bunch of noise and worthless.
It reminds me of a story I once heard: There was a child psychologist who was famous and had written many best-selling books on parenting and how to raise children. Recently, he had spent many hours constructing a new driveway at his home. Just after he smoothed the surface of the freshly poured concrete, his neighbors’ small children chased a ball across the driveway, leaving deep footprints. The man yelled after them with a torrent of angry words. His shocked neighbor heard these words and said to him, “You’re a psychologist who’s supposed to love children.” The fuming man shouted, “I love children in the abstract, not in the concrete!”
Paul is saying in I Corinthians 13:1-3 that love in the abstract is worthless.
A few days later, God showed me what love in the concrete looks like. I shared the following story on my Facebook page recently. It resonated with a lot of people because it’s been shared hundreds of times and I’ve heard more responses to it than anything else I’ve ever posted on social media. It illustrates to me what Love in the Concrete looks like:
I met Jesus yesterday. Face to face.
He’s a cashier at a grocery store in Front Royal, Virginia.
I was on my way home from work after a busy Monday visiting sick patients at the hospital, supporting families as their loved ones face the end of life, helping people struggling with addiction and staff cope with the challenges of being full-time caregivers. I’m a chaplain and a pastor, that’s what I do all day. It’s what I’ve trained to do, studied, practiced.
But then, yesterday, out of the blue, with no warning I met Jesus working the register at a grocery store.
First, I saw him patiently help the customer ahead of me. The one who only had 3 items in her cart, was very confused trying to figure out how much she could spend because she needed to have enough left over. He was gentle and patient with her. He couldn’t be more than his late teens, maybe early 20s, but he was attentive and caring. No eye rolls or looks of frustration, just caring for this confused and frustrated woman. (I was the one who was frustrated at how long it was taking).
Then it was finally my turn to check out. He was a thin young man, wearing a cross made of horseshoe nails and wire. He smiled and asked gently, “May I pray for you?”
That was unexpected and caught me completely off guard. I said, “Yes, please.” I was so moved that this young man would take the time to notice me and ask if he could pray for me. This was more than a transactional relationship for him. He was there to do more than simply earn his paycheck and go home. He saw me as more than an object, a thing to help pay his bills, he saw me as a person, a human being made in the image of God, who has a life outside of this 5-minute transaction and has needs that can be helped by God’s intervention. I was deeply moved.
But he wasn’t finished.
“What would you like me to pray for?” What should I say? How specific should I be? Should I say, “I’m currently under treatment for 2 types of advanced cancer and trying my best to keep going?” Should I tell him about my concerns about family members that I love, my desire to help my Church grow, and all the needs of the people I visit and staff I serve in the hospital?
There wasn’t time to go into all of that, so I simply said “My health.”
He stopped and said, “So you are having health problems. I’ll pray for that.”
By then the tears were starting to well up in me and I hurriedly helped him bag my groceries so I could get out of there before I started ugly crying in the grocery store check-out line.
But he wasn’t done yet.
“What’s your name?” That about finished me off. He wasn’t just making conversation or using spiritual cliches like “I’ll pray for you” as well-intentioned people often do, but sometimes forget to actually do. I knew that he really meant it. He was and is praying for me, Jeff, who has health needs. And based on what I saw, he’s already pretty close to God. So I have a feeling God will listen attentively to his prayers.
As I sat in my car afterward waiting for the tears to subside, I had the overwhelming sense that I had just spent time with Jesus.
I met Jesus yesterday.
He works as a cashier at a grocery store in Front Royal, Virginia.
Since I shared this on Facebook I’ve had dozens of people who live locally write to me or tell me in the hospital that this same young man has left others equally in tears when he prayed for them and they, too, equally felt touched by Jesus.
This young man probably doesn’t have a doctorate in spiritual care, but you don’t need one of those to show people concrete love in the name of Jesus. Go and be Jesus wherever you are today.
Pastor Jeff Fletcher
Reflection Questions
Name a time when you were surprised by God’s love revealed to you in unexpected places.
How would you describe the difference between abstract love and concrete love?
The young man showed Jesus’ love while checking people out at the grocery store. Where can you show the love of Jesus today?
I love baseball. (If you don’t, don’t leave just yet, please). Baseball is a team sport. This was put on display for me recently. I was watching a Washington Nationals game this weekend and the commentators brought in a retired pitcher who used to play for the Nationals in their 2019 World Series winning season. During the playoffs that year, Anibal Sanchez came very close to pitching a no-hitter. It was broken up in the 8th inning by a Cardinals batter. When asked about it Sanchez said he wouldn’t have come close to having a no-hitter without his teammates making great plays. He said no pitcher should ever get sole credit for a no-hitter. It’s impossible without your teammates making plays. Sanchez wasn’t just being humble, he was 100% right. It takes a catcher to catch the pitch, fielders to make plays and throw the ball to first, outfielders to run and catch fly balls. Without good teammates, you can’t pitch a no-hitter. When a no-hitter does happen, or even rarer a perfect game, the pitcher gets the accolades and they stick a microphone in his face after the game, but it was a team effort.
The same is true for the Church. That’s what Paul was trying to get at in 1 Corinthians 12. There are a few people that are “up front” during a worship service. The worship leader, the soloist, the scripture reader, and the pastor all have visible roles and they are important. But they aren’t the only important people. Many important people are working behind the scenes in nearly invisible ways. The person running the sound system is important. The pianist, guitar player, and other musicians are important. The person who makes the coffee before Sunday School is important. The people who set up tables for Church dinners are important. The people who teach children’s church are important. The people who clean the bathrooms, take out the trash, and vacuum the floors are important. The people who buy toilet paper are important, very important. If those people don’t do their jobs what have you got? A mess. Also important are the people who type the bulletin and change the slides with the worship song lyrics, and the people who make sure that the heat is turned on or the a/c is turned on. All of these people are important. So are the people who faithfully place their financial contributions in the offering, and the people who count and collect those offerings, and the people who write checks so that the pastor can feed their family and the lights stay on. Even in smaller churches, it takes a lot of people to share their gifts and talents.
Apparently, in the Church at Corinth, there was a lot of jealousy and rivalry going on between Christians. It was causing division in the Church. The Apostle Paul wrote this letter to correct some of those problems. He wanted them to understand that Churches need to maintain unity to be healthy and carry out the mission that God has given us to do. Everyone in the church is not gifted in the same way. Some people love to be up front serving in visible ways. Some people are not gifted to speak or lead worship, but they have other gifts. I have a special needs sister, Christine, who wants to help and has claimed her gifts by handing out the church bulletins. She grabs a stack and goes to each person in Sunday School and gives them a bulletin. She wants to help by sharing her gifts. She also loves to sing very loudly in worship and her exuberance is infectious. (And she likes to say “amen” when her brother the preacher says that he’s winding up the sermon).
Read through all of the Apostle Paul’s letters in the New Testament and see how much Paul depended on others to help him carry out his ministry. Often when he wrote letters to encourage and teach Churches he was in jail for preaching the Gospel of Jesus, which was a threat to both the religious leaders and the Roman Empire. Paul depended on people to take the letters he wrote from prison and deliver them to the Churches. He also depended on people to bring him food, an extra blanket, his books and letters, and medicine. He had poor eyesight so he depended on a secretary to write down his words. He also longed for fellowship with other followers of Jesus. Paul was the face of much of the teaching and spread of the Church in the first century, but it took a team to support him.
What are some ways that you are serving in your Church? You can’t start too early. Our church has a 7-year-old help take up the offering some Sundays. As you read through 1 Corinthians 12, try not to get too bogged down thinking about the theological issues that continue to divide Christians today (are the spiritual gifts Paul mentions for now or did they stop after the first century?) It’s amazing how this chapter that Paul wrote to help a church not be divided has caused many Christians to disagree and divide. If God decides to give you the gift of miracles or healing, who am I to tell you that God did away with those gifts 1900 years ago? (if you do have the gifts of miracle or healing, please come visit me, I could use it.)
Remember, there is no “ I” in “Team”. And there is no I in Church. It’s all about how we use the gifts God has given each of us to serve.
Pastor Jeff Fletcher
Reflection Questions
What similarities do you see between sports teams or work teams and the team work needed to carry out the work of Jesus and the Church?
Are you currently using any of your gifts to help carry out the mission of the Church?
Are you willing to test your gifts and potentially experience some failures and disappointments as you seek to carry out the mission of Jesus Christ and the Church? What will you try and risk next?
I have never had a baby. Shocker, I know! As a male member of the human race the act of childbirth has and will forever elude my lived experience. However, as a father of eleven Fletchers, I have spent many years of my adult life in the company of pregnant women, or more precisely, a pregnant woman. I was there for all eleven births and I caught most of them (the last one came so quickly that I caught him solo). All this is to offer to you my credentials that, although never directly experiencing labor, I have been present for enough births to recognize the various stages that women go through in childbirth. Fun fact, for women who have more than one baby the Braxton Hicks contractions (otherwise known as false labor) can come several weeks or even months before the baby is actually born. Braxton Hicks contractions are one way that the body prepares itself for labor. It’s like an athlete doing warm up exercises before the actual event. Muscles tighten and relax as they practice for the real thing when it comes.
Today’s devotion isn’t really about childbirth, it’s about being prepared for the return of Jesus Christ, the end of this present age and the preparation for the age to come, the Kingdom of God. Matthew 24 is known as the “little apocalypse”. Apocalypse is another term for Revelation. In the Bible the book of Revelation is 22 chapters long and goes into a lot of detail about the end of this age and the coming of Jesus. Matthew 24 is a condensed version, kind of a mini-sermon Jesus preached to his followers shortly before he went to the cross. (You will run across parallel or “synoptic” passages when we get to Mark 13 and Luke 21).
Jesus’ purpose here is to prepare his followers to be ready for times of great tribulation or distress that would come immediately prior to his return. If you’ve ever read or heard a sermon about the apocalypse or the end of the world or Armageddon you probably are aware that Jesus warned that before things get amazingly better- ie. The New Heavens and the New Earth, Christ returning to rule over all the world bringing a final end to all sin and death and setting free the whole earth from the “curse” of death… before things get amazingly better, there will be a time when they become incredibly hard.
A brief study of the history of the Church for the last 2000 years will show that Christians have gone through hard times a lot. In the first 2 centuries the problem was the Roman Empire. Followers of Jesus were often told that they had to renounce their loyalty to Jesus and declare their loyalty to Caesar alone. When they refused, some of them were thrown to the lions or burned at the stake.
Since Christianity was legalized in the Roman Empire it has faced challenges in many parts of the world at different times. In the 17th century Christian missionaries in Japan were killed for their faith. In the 1930’s Christians in Germany who failed to support Hitler faced severe persecution and some, most notably Dietrich Bonhoeffer, were executed for resisting Nazism. Christians in Communist China and the Soviet Union experienced incredible persecution during most of the 20th century. There are places in the Islamic world today where Christians who attempt to proselytize Muslims face the threat of execution.
Every generation of Christians since the first century could look at what was happening in the world and see the potential for the end of the world. Jesus’ own disciples asked him right after his resurrection, before he ascended to God, “Is it NOW, Lord?” (Acts 1:6).
2020 was a really challenging year with Covid, racial division, murder hornets, wildfires and hurricanes. I had a lot of people asking me if I thought the end of the world was coming. Perhaps you’ve wondered that yourselves.
Matthew 24 is a great place to go when you start wondering if this is the end. Like a woman who is going to have a baby, she may have “birth pangs” for a long time before the baby is actually ready to be born. The same is true with the coming Kingdom of God. I think every generation of Christians experience some amount of persecution or “natural” disasters or other tragedies that leave them wondering if the end could be near. Just as Braxton Hicks contractions are God’s way of preparing a woman to give birth by having her muscles practice for the big event, God permits every generation to experience a certain amount of trials and tribulations to help prepare God’s people for the final “great push” that will occur right before Jesus returns.
Jesus himself said that no one knows exactly when he will return. He said that even he doesn’t know. That is something that only God knows. What Jesus does say to his disciples then and to us today is that we need to stay ready, we shouldn’t fall asleep in our faith. He warns that as troubles and persecution increase and as the world becomes a less loving and more violent place that many of his followers would fall away:
“At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 24:10-12).
Jesus might come very soon. I can’t predict when. All I can do is make sure that I’m ready whenever he does come. I must make sure that I stay faithful and don’t turn away even if the persecution gets really bad. I think Christians living in the United States are getting ready to face some real persecution in the near future. In fact, I think we already are. There is a lot of pressure to conform to the changing norms of society. Cancel culture will not have any respect for Christianity. Some of the things that the Bible teaches about how we are supposed to live, particularly in areas of morality, sexuality and gender norms are considered anathema by the current progressive climate. As people place more value on becoming “woke” more followers of Jesus, young and old will be persecuted if they fail to change their values. Remember, Caesar doesn’t like to be rejected as God, neither does the devil, and neither do the progressive elites. In the wake of the coming persecution Jesus our Lord tells us to “stand firm.”
-Pastor Jeff Fletcher
(originally posted January 24, 2021 for SeekGrowLove)
Reflection Questions
Make a list of what Jesus warns us of in Matthew 24. How does it help to know what to expect?
How can you guard against the deception of false christs and false prophets?
Have you already seen a bit of the increase of wickedness and the love of most growing cold? Has it affected you personally? What temperature is your love?
What can you do today to help prepare yourself to stand firm to the end? What can you do today to help prepare others to stand firm to the end?
Today’s reading of Exodus 19 & 20 is probably one of the most familiar passages in the whole Bible for it includes the Ten Commandments. It is important to understand the context of these commandments. God entered into a covenantal relationship with Abraham and Abraham’s descendants through Isaac and Jacob and Jacob’s sons who became the twelve tribes of Israel. God promised to bless and provide for his people and in exchange His people promised to be faithful and obedient to God and worship God alone.
After 400 years of slavery, Israel has grown from 12 sons and their immediate family to millions of people. These people, God’s covenant people, will be settling in a land where they will need to live in community. They are no longer slaves. They are now responsible to live in that community in peace and productivity. They need help to know how to live together. God provides His people with the structure of how to live together as God’s people. The Ten Commandments and subsequently nearly 600 additional laws were all designed to help them be healthy and blessed representatives of God to the rest of the world.
God loves all people. We must never falsely believe that God only loves certain people. God considers all human beings His children and loves them all. God wants to be in a right relationship with all of his children; however, many are disobedient and have no willingness to be in a relationship with God and many deny that God even exists.
So God needed to start with one group of people and prepare them to be a special, chosen people who would bring the knowledge of God to others. Exodus 19:5-6 says, “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’
Israel was to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. A priest is one who helps connect people and God. God would go on to designate priests in Israel to help the people connect with God, but His expectation for Israel was that the whole nation serve as priests to help other nations connect with God. Because the whole nation was being set apart by God to be priests for the world, they needed to live holy or set apart lives. There were behavioral expectations that they were to follow. They had to be exclusively loyal to God, they could not murder, steal, lie, cheat, they were to be respectful and honoring of parents and not misuse God’s name.
Now we are completing what God began in Israel. Through Christ we have entered into a covenant with God. We are now the covenant people, we are called to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. That is the Church’s role. And God expects us to live lives of holiness as we are set apart to serve God. As you read through the many laws in the Old Testament, recognize that some applied very narrowly to the Nation of Israel and do not necessarily apply to us. Dietary laws and sanitary laws were important in Israel at the time they were given but are no longer applicable. However, some of the laws which pertain to morality have been reaffirmed by Jesus Christ for the Church. In other words, as Christians we are free to eat pork and worship on Sundays, but we are not free to practice polygamy or murder.
God is truly a God of grace and mercy, but God is also a God who hates sin and punishes sin. In this way we are still to live in fear of the Lord: Exodus 20:20 “the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.”
Jeff Fletcher
(originally posted Feb 5, 2020 for SeekGrowLove)
Reflection Questions
Looking at each one of the Ten Commandments, what can you learn about God? Why do you think He included each one in this list?
Which of these commandments do you need to look at more closely in your own life? What will help you abide by them better?
Looking at Matthew 23, the scribes and Pharisees Jesus was speaking about had worked hard at following the Ten (and additional commandments). But Jesus was not pleased. What were their problems? How can you avoid these problems?
Here we are, the last day of 2023. We’ve come to the end of the year. We’ve also come to the end of this eight day focus on the life of Jesus. We started with the announcement that he was to be born, then his birth announcement, his escape to Egypt, his new beginning in Nazareth, his baptism and testing, his ministry, his death, this resurrection, his ascension to heaven and now we’ve reached the end. Revelation 21 is a picture of what the future will be after all of the other prophecies surrounding the end of this age and the return of Jesus to reign are completed. I’m going to insert one passage from 1 Corinthians 15 to help transition us to Revelation 21.
“But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power.” (1 Corinthians 15:20-24).
Paul here gives the basic outline: Christ died and became alive again. When he comes again those who belong to Christ will, in the same way become alive again, never more to die. Jesus will reign for a time, Revelation 20 says it will be 1000 year or a millennium, and at the end of that time there will be a final judgment and all of the powers which opposed God since the beginning will finally be destroyed, at which time Jesus will hand over the kingdom to God himself who will come and reign over us in person.
Today’s reading in Revelation 21 shows what will happen after Jesus hands over the kingdom to God. God sets up his kingdom on earth, in what Revelation calls the New Jerusalem (it’s much larger than the present city of Jerusalem).
This brings the Bible full circle. In Genesis 1-3 when God first created the earth, he came to the Garden of Eden to visit with Adam and Eve in person. After they sinned and were cast out of the garden, they were separated from God. They could no longer dwell in the presence of God. God made provision for his people through various tabernacles and temples that would have a very holy place where the glory of God would come and where a representative of the people, the high priest would come once a year. But God’s presence was always mediated by other forms- a burning bush, an angel, pillar of fire or pillar of cloud. Now, in Revelation 21, God is back fully on earth with his people, in an unmediated direct way. There’s no need for a temple now, for everyone who is there has been made holy by the blood of Jesus which has cleansed them from their sins. They are immortal and sinless. There will be no more death or pain or brokenness. The Lord God announces, “I am making everything new.”
Tomorrow begins a new year, 2024. My best guess is, not much will change in the world. Yes, you’ll need a new calendar. People might have a new insurance plan. But there will still be sickness, there will still be wars, people will still be snarky on social media and the Democrats and Republicans will continue to fight. And people will still die. That’s not going to change until Jesus returns and puts a final nail in the coffin of evil in this world. This passage gives us a hopeful picture of what the world will be like after that happens, when God comes to live with us, when the final enemy of death will be destroyed and God makes all things new.
The world will be the same tomorrow, but you can be made new. If you put your full faith and trust in Jesus and follow him, he will make you new. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”. Will you choose to be in Christ, will you be made new? Happy new year and happy new you!
-Jeff Fletcher
Reflection Questions
How would you describe Revelation 21 to someone who has never read it before? What do you find most exciting about the New Heaven and the New Earth and New Jerusalem?
Have you chosen to be in Christ? How does life in Christ create a new creation?
Through your Bible reading what have you learned about God and His Son Jesus in 2023? How can what you learned change you? How can you put this knowledge to use in 2024? Who needs to know what you know? Thank God for revealing Himself to you through His holy Scriptures.
Watch for the NEW 2024 SeekGrowLove Bible reading plan to be revealed later today!
Have you ever been a witness and had to testify in court? I have. I once witnessed a crime while I was on vacation at the beach. I was called to come back and testify at the trial. I didn’t mind, it was a free trip back to the beach.
There are different kinds of witnesses. If you ever watch television shows that feature courtrooms like Law and Order or CSI you know that different people are called to witness different things. You can have a character witness who tells about the defendant as a person. You can have forensic witnesses to talk about evidence. Maybe the most important is the eye-witness, who talks about what they saw with their own eyes. If you get two or three eye-witnesses who testify the same thing, there’s a good chance the defendant will be found guilty.
In today’s reading from Acts, we get a small glimpse of what Jesus was up to during the first 40 days after he was raised from the dead. He went around showing his disciples that he was still alive. Luke, who wrote Acts, says that Jesus gave “many convincing proofs” that he was alive.
Most of my adult children live a good distance from me, in another state, and one lives in another country. If I haven’t heard from one of them for a while I will text them and ask for “proof of life” which means- “send me a text, call or Facetime with me so I know you’re doing okay.” Fun fact: Dads are happier when they can see proof that their kids are okay (even if their kids are in their 20’s and 30’s and have kids of their own.). A phone call, text, or Facetime is pretty low level proof of life, but I doubt that anyone is kidnapping my kids and doing a deepfake proof of life. If I can see their face or hear their voice, I’m good.
For the disciples in the first century, they had proof of life right in front of them. Jesus was there, in his newly resurrected body, still bearing the scars from his crucifixion. They were eyewitnesses of the risen Jesus. But it wasn’t enough for them to just see for themselves that Jesus was risen, he told them that they had an important mission. They were to be his witnesses. They were to take the story of his life, teaching and resurrection to the whole world. And they did. That is why, 2000 years later there are people all over the world who follow Jesus Christ.
The disciples also witnessed Jesus ascend up from the earth through the clouds to heaven where he now sits at the right hand of God. As they were eyewitnesses to Jesus ascending, they also witnessed the angels who assured them that Jesus would return in the same way that he left, visibly, in the clouds. For 2000 years the church has kept alive this testimony from the eyewitnesses: Jesus died on the cross for our sins, God raised Jesus from the dead and many people saw him in his risen body, Jesus ascended to heaven and we heard the promise that he would one day return in the same way. Each generation of Jesus’ followers have kept this message alive and spread it. Now you have received it, it’s up to you and your generation to continue keeping this eye witness testimony alive, until Jesus returns.
-Jeff Fletcher
Reflection Questions
If you were called up as a character witness for Jesus how would you describe him? What do you know about Jesus as a person?
If you were called up as a forensic witness testifying to the evidence of Jesus what would you say? What convincing proofs do you have that Jesus is alive?
If you were called up as an eye-witness for what Jesus has done for you what would you say? How is your life different because of Jesus?
Who needs to know what you know about Jesus, about the evidence surrounding his life, death, resurrection, ascension and coming return, and about how you have experienced Jesus and what he has done for you? How will you share?
It feels funny to be talking about Jesus’ death and resurrection during Christmas week. Sunday we were expecting a baby to be born, Monday the angels were singing to the shepherds announcing his birth. Here it is Friday and he has already been crucified and his cold, dead body lies in a tomb. It is kind of jarring to go from celebrating a baby born to be king to suddenly mourning his death.
Life is often experienced as a kind of emotional roller coaster. Something great happens, and you are laughing and joyful. Then, suddenly you are hit with bad news and the laughter turns to tears. The events we have been reading about took place over 30+ years from the time Gabriel first appeared to Mary with the announcement that she had been chosen by God to bear his son, the Messiah until she stood at the foot of his cross and watched him die. As you may recall, there was death surrounding Jesus right from the beginning, as King Herod was trying to kill him when he was a baby, when the little innocent baby boys of Bethlehem were slaughtered. Jesus warned in John 10:10 that “the thief comes to kill, steal and destroy”. Right from the beginning evil was out to destroy Jesus. It took 30 years, but finally Jesus was dead. The rejoicing has turned to weeping.
The good news of the Gospels is that death doesn’t have the final word. Evil doesn’t win. God wins! At the Last Supper just before Jesus was arrested he laid out for his disciples what was about to happen:
16 Jesus went on to say, “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.”
At this, some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by saying, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” They kept asking, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand what he is saying.”
Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, “Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’? Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. 22 So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. (John 16:16-20).
This brings us to today’s reading in John 20. As we saw yesterday, Jesus was unjustly killed for political reasons. The principalities and powers tried to buttress their own power and control and they saw Jesus as a threat, so they had him unjustly killed. However, it takes more than the death of his son to thwart God’s plan. As it turned out, the powers who orchestrated Jesus’ death played right into God’s plan that goes back to the very beginning. That’s right, since the time of Adam and Eve and the Fall, God’s plan to defeat evil included the sacrificial death of the one who would be the son of God and Messianic King. Revelation 13:8 speaks of the “lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world.” Before Jesus ruled as King, he first had to die as sacrifice, as savior, as redeemer. He died to bear our sins as Isaiah 53 prophesied would one day happen.
God raised Jesus from the dead. Death did not have the final word, God has the final word and it is life. Along with life, Jesus offers the gift of forgiveness. When you believe that Jesus died and was raised to life and give your loyalty to him as your king, you will share in that blessing Jesus promised. Your sins will be forgiven and you will have your fellowship with God restored. The result of this restored fellowship is peace, the peace that only Jesus can give.
Jesus points out to the disciples that they came to believe in him by seeing him in person after the resurrection. Thomas even had the benefit of physically touching Jesus’ scars to help him accept the truth of the resurrection. Jesus points to those who will believe in him without the benefit of having seen him after his resurrection. Those who have faith in the message of the gospel passed down for 2000 years in the Bible from the first eyewitnesses to the risen Jesus. The good news is, that is you, if you believe that God raised Jesus from death to life, you receive the blessing Jesus promised. I hope you believe, I know I do.
-Jeff Fletcher
Reflection Questions
What do you love about God and His plan as revealed in John 20? What questions do you have about God and His plan and Jesus’ part in that plan?
What has Jesus offered to you? Have you accepted these gifts? Why or why not?
What is the next step in God’s plan and what is your role in it?
Seek Grow Love 